Home of Gypsy Vanners, Drums and Shires
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Welcome to Big Shoe Ranch website
Our mission is to create magnificent, with a gentle disposition and just the right size, all around horse. The Shires have a wonderful gentle disposition and are beautiful but they are tall and hard to get on without a tailgate. The Gypsy Vanners also have a wonderful gentle disposition and are beautiful but they are small and many people do not feel comfortable riding them. Gypsy Vanners are typically between 13.2 and 15.2 HH.
To get to our ultimate goal of "Shorter Shires or Taller Gypsies" we will start with crossing our Shires with Gypsy Vanners. These fantastic horses meet the International Drum Horse Association's definition of a Drum Horse. We will take the best of our Drums and cross them back to the best Gypsy Vanners or other Drum horses. These crosses will create larger horses with excellent conformation and dispositions that will be over 15.2 HH. We are very excited about their color too which is a big bonus.
How Big Shoe Ranch Started
We are the Hodziewich family, Mike and Julie started Big Shoe Ranch in 2010 and our daughter Nicole joined us in 2016. It all started with a Shire gelding named Klondike. Mike rode Klondike for seventeen years. Klondike was a fantastic horse, he had an awesome personality and a calm nature. He would bring the herd back to camp when Mike whistled for him while we were camping in the National Forest. When trail riding and faced with a steep slippery hill, Mike would take off Klondike's halter and hike down the hill. Once at the bottom Mike would call Klondike and he would slide down the hill and stop by Mike to have his halter put back on. We have numerous stories about Klondike. When we lost Klondike, and started looking for another riding horse for Mike, is when we discovered that we wanted to start breeding these magnificent horses.
